Just in case

Wishing you a very pleasant Sunday morning, as I write this post.  Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Like most people, I have numerous electronic devices that are a big part of my everyday life, both for work and for leisure.  I have a mobile phone (we finally got rid of our land line a couple of years ago), a tablet and a desktop computer.  I also have a laptop computer that was assigned to me by my employer, and I use that for specific purposes.

My question this morning is whether or not you use cases for the items you carry with you every day.  I'm sure there are surveys somewhere that spell this out, but I find it interesting that so few people go without some sort of case, particularly on their cellphones.

This has been so for a long time.  In my case, I've generally relied on a case to allow me to hang the phone from my belt, as older phones would easily overwhelm one's pants pockets, and I don't always wear a coat or jacket (the days of routinely wearing a coat and tie are long gone, I'm happy to say).

My first cellphone was a big flat phone, which I think later was called a "candy bar" style handset.  It was bulky and had poor battery life, but at least I never had one installed in my car.  I never had a case for that phone, as I felt it was pretty substantial and I didn't use a phone all that much back then, since all one could do was make very expensive phone calls!  I think I had two that would qualify as that style of phone, the second being quite a bit smaller than the first.

Sometime later I graduated to a series of flip phones, which seemed like very advanced pieces of tech.  These phones, which you may still see versions of here and there, were much smaller, and pocketable if the user wished.  I preferred some sort of belt clip but that meant a two-piece case which attached with velcro or some other method and they often didn't fit very well and were made with the very thinnest and cheapest versions of real or synthetic leather.

Then came Blackberries, which were real tanks, and they came with a fitted belt holster.  Never worried that I would drop or break any of these phones during the time I used them.

And then came the iPhone.

Even in their earliest days, they were expensive, and, of course, they've gotten ever larger with each new version.  I've ALWAYS used a case for them, to protect my investment.  I've even ponied up for inexpensive cases when my employer would issue me an iPhone, mostly out of habit.  With the last couple of iPhones I've taken a liking to clear cases, since the phones are actually pretty nice looking.  Way back when, all of the phones were black, so it wasn't a big thing to cover up that ordinary looking item.

I currently use the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is absurdly large by 2007 standards, but offers ample screen real estate for e-mail, messaging, calls, and all of the apps one could imagine, feels good in the hand and isn't absurdly heavy.

I've leather phone holsters of varying size since my first couple of Blackberry phones.  I found one kind of my accident from a company called Colonel Littleton and found that they allow me to pass the belt through a sewn loop, so they don't fall off like a clip-style holster.  I've now had three of them, and cannot imagine not using this in my everyday carry setup.  

And that brings me to my iPad.

I bought the first generation iPad, then the third, then the Air 2. Then Apple introduced the iPad, which was a less expensive version of the tablet, and had several of those, buying a couple of these for my grandchildren along the way.  I came to like a case on the back, to keep the aluminum from scratching, so have purchased an array of different cases made mostly of soft-touch plastics.  A couple have had kickstands built in as well.

I currently have an iPad Air 5, in blue (matching the iMac on my desk where I'm composing this piece), and while I bought a simple case to protect the back when I bought it but eventually decided to buy the Apple brand Smart Folio, which attaches to the back of the tablet magnetically, and the front folds back in several configurations to allow you to use it while holding it, or set it up on a tabletop.

That's the current issue.  Because I'm a regular person, the oils from my hands tend to accumulate in the spots where my left hand holds the iPad.  I like this case, it keeps the device nice and thin, allowing me to slide it into my briefcase or suitcase pocket with little space lost.

But I've tried a couple of different methods to clean that part that I fold back, getting it cleaner but still stained.  The material the case is made from is some sort of elastomer that feels a bit like felt on the inside, thus preventing scratching.  It absorbs fingerprints, and I expect that the smoother side would, too, if I were holding it from there.

Cases seldom last for the life of a device, so I'll be looking around for a replacement that won't absorb quite so much of the skin oils I leave behind.  I've certainly been there and done that, so we'll see what I come up with as a replacement.

If you have something that you especially like for a phone or iPad case, let me know with a comment!